Hare and tortoise toy



May 6, 1947.

0. A. DISHMAKER HARE AND TORTOISE TOY Filed Feb. 22, 1945 2 Sheets-Sheet l INVENT OR R E K A M H m D A F- L u v R 0 AT TORNEYS Patented May 6, 1947 HARE 'AND TORTOISE TOY Orville A. Dishmaker, Oshkosh, Wis., assignor of one-half to Leonard J. Kaufman, Manitowoc,

Wis.

Application February 22, 1945, Serial No. 579,189

My invention refers to animated toys, either in the form of an animal or other figure.

The object of my invention is to provide a simple, durable and pleasing toy in the specific formof a feeding rabbit, the body of the same being pivoted, and normally in an upright position under a ball container, and arranged to automatically receive a ball or marble from said container into its paws, and thereafter deliver the marble to a figure, the delivery action being due to the over-balance weight of the marble, whereby the figure will oscillate downwardly from its pivot point, and discharge the marble, by gravity, into the auxiliary figure, which figure may be in the form of an animal or rodent or a game apparatus.

Further action of the oscillating animal or figure is accomplished through release of the overbalancing marble or welghtnear or at the bottom of said oscillation, whereupon the oscillating figure, now being heavier at the rear of the fulcrum, rises to; an erect posture, again trips the trigger and loads the forepaws with another over-balancing marble or ball, continuing with cyclic action as long as marbles or balls remain in the feeding container.

The specific object of my invention is to provide legs extending from a base, having pivoted thereto a counter-balanced body, having cupped legs for the reception of a marble, which is discharged from a container in the form of an inclined channel, the said marble being released by a trigger from the container, which trigger is engaged and tripped by the head of the figure or animal, and due to the over-balance weight of the marble, it will cause the animal to rock downwardly and deliver the marble into an auxiliary figure.

With the above and other minor objects in View, my invention consists in certain peculiarities of construction and combination of parts as will be hereinafter fully set forth with reference to the drawings, and subsequently claimed.

In the drawings:

Figure 1 represents a side elevation of a toy embodying the features of my invention, the same being partly in section, taken on line l-l of Fig.2.

Figure 2, a plan view of the same, broken away and in section to illustrate structural features.

Figure 3, a sectional edge view of the same, the section being indicated by line 3-3 of Figure 1.

Figure 4, a magnified detailed sectional elevation of the marble figure, the section being indicated by line 44 of Figure 1.

Figure 5, a sectional plan view of the same, the section being indicated by line 5-5 of Figure 1.

1Claim. (01.46-123) g Figure 6, a detailed sectionalelev'ation of a fragment of the marble container, illustrating the discharge trigger mechanism for controlling feed of the marbles. s

Referring by characters to the drawings, 1 indicates a stand, having secured thereto an animal base 2; which base is in the form of the hind legs of a rabbit, spaced apart for thereception of the rabbit body 3, that is secured to the upper portion of the legs by a pivot pin 4. The head 5 of the rabbit, and front legs 6 thereof, are spaced apart, the head sections being'connected by a trip-rod 7, and the front legs terminate with a foot cup 8, which, as shown, is normally under a throat 9, of a container Ill. I

The container in thi exemplification of my invention is in the design of 'a Christmas tree, the back of which is provided with a marble receiving mouth II, that communicates with a channel I2, which channel, in zig-zag form, terminates at the discharge mouth 9. r r

In, order to provide means for finally adjusting the counter-balanced rabbit-body, I provide threaded plugs 8, fitted into the tail portion or the body 3, as shown.

The container is suitably supported by a standard 10, extending upwardly from the stand I, and in design simulates the trunk of the Christmas tree.

The container is loaded with marbles l3, and the last marble [3' of the series is held in position, to be discharged into the throat 9, by a trigger I l.

The trigger is provided with a stop nose l5, and a mouth l5, and the tail portion of said trigger serves as a counter-balance weight, whereby, when said trigger is in its inactive position, the tail swings downwardly upon its pivot connection, and brings the mouth IS in alignment with the last marble of the series, whereby said marble is held.

As clearly indicated in Figure l of the drawings, when the animal is swung upon its pin 4 to an upright position, the trip-rod l engages the tail of the trigger l4 and causes its mouth, carrying a marble, to rotate to a delivery position, and thus discharge said marble into the cup '8 at the end of the animal's legs.

When this movement takes place, the nose I5 of the trigger will serve as a stop to prevent further discharge of the juxtaposed marbles.

In view of the delicate body counter-balance of the animal, when the marble drops into the cup, its weight will cause the animal to rock downwardly in a prone position, as indicated in 4 A further modification of this toy comprises an oscillating member, in the form of a teetertotter in place of the oscillating rabbit or figure, the oscillating member being a teeter board, with or without figures, such as girls, boys, animals. or other characters, at its extremities, with the .pivotally mounted board operated in similar tall, whereby when said tail is engaged by the.

pivoted body, the head will rock down to cutofi cup' the channel and cause the ball in the trigger to be thrown into the body cup.

The turtle is removably secured to the stand by dowel pins I1, and the open rear end of the turtle rests over a slotted opening |8, formed in the rear portion of the stand I.

The opening I8 is directly over a marbl'eir'eceiv-f ing box [9, which forms part of the stand, and said box,-in connection with a frontstrip H, hich also extends from the stand forms supporting feet for said stand.

As previously described, when the marble is delivered to the mouth a: of the turtle, it will be discharged upon the lower jaw of said turtle,

Whm jaw is in the form of an oscillating lever pivoted-t0 the turtle with a tail 26' extending into the hollow turtle body. Hence it is apparent that when the marble rolls backwardly into the turtle body, its weight upon the tail 20 will cause the mouth end of the lever to close, whereby the marble will be delivered into the retaining box l9. Ju -practice, for example, when the novelty of the rabbit design becomes well known to the public, a squirrel maybe substituted therefor, wherein the marbles will serve as nuts, which can be delivered to any receiving figure, such as,'for instance, a hollow log; or the figure may be that of a-monkey receiving cocoanuts and delivering them to the lower auxiliary figure, it being obvious that the figure of a clown, may also be employed in connection with the salient teatures of the invention.

manner to the previously mentioned rabbit figure. s

While I have shown and described the features of my invention minutely as to detail, it is understood that I may vary the structural features,

within the scope of the claim. .I claim? 1 A toy consisting of a pivoted body normally in an upright position having ,a ball receiving cup, a lowercontainer and an upper inclined ball receiving channel having a discharge mouth, a

pivbt'e'dlball tripping trigger the head of which is formed with a curved nose and a cup normally alined with the channel, 'a counterbalanced tail extending from the trigger head and means on the body for engaging the trigger tail for lifting same, whereby the nose forms a stop at the, mouth ofthe channel and the ball in the trigger cup is thrown into the body cup whereby its weight will cause said body torock downwardly and deliver said ball to the container.

ORVILLE A. DISHMAKER.

REFERENCESJCITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS 756,860 French Dec. 16, 1 933 

